Aw Muck!

Muckdogs baserunner #14 Victor Sanchez scores at home plate in the bottom of the 7th inning. Tri City Catcher Chris Wallace misses the throw. On deck in background for Batavia is #40 Joey Bergman, looking on at the play. Runner safe. Mark Gutman/Daily News

BATAVIA -- It was a weird game with a most unusual ending on Wednesday night, as the Tri-City ValleyCats actually lost a game on a wind-blown throw to home plate.

Pinch-runner Jacke Healey, running hard from the crack of the bat with two outs, tried to score from first base on Ben Orloff's Texas League single to center field.

It appeared he would do so, but the wind actually knocked down the rainbow throw from Batavia second baseman Joey Bergman so that it came down right in the glove of Muckdogs catcher Jose Castillo, who blocked the plate and tagged out the sliding Healey.

Batavia's 5-4 victory evened the best-of-three New York-Penn League semifinal series at 1-1. The deciding game between the two division champions will be tonight (7) at Batavia's Dwyer Stadium.

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In the other semifinal, top-seeded Brooklyn on rallied for a 9-8, 12-inning victory over the wildcard Jamestown Jammers on Wednesday night, squaring that series at 1-1.

Game 1 of the championship series will be on Saturday night in Jamestown if the Jammers survive, in Batavia or Troy if Brooklyn wins.

"That was quite a grenede he threw in there," ValleyCats manager Jim Pankovits said of Bergman's throw. "In hindsight, though, that was probably the only way he could throw (Healey) out, keep it out of the grass. It was obviously pretty much right on line. They had to execute right there to keep us from tying it (and they did)."

To be fair -- and accurate -- Orloff's hit was quite wind-blown, too, as neither Bergman, shortstop Yadie Castillo or center fielder Chris Edmondson could get a beat on it and the ball glanced off the glove of the diving Edmondson.

Chris Wallace scored from second on the play easily, and when Bergman picked up the ball as Healey hit third base, the Batavia crowd of 733 gasped when they saw the flight of his throw.

The wind, though, was the Muckdogs' friend.

"I didn't see it," Healey said. "I picked up Panks (coaching third base) as I was coming to third and he said, 'go hard, run hard.' I never slowed down.

Healey really had no where to go.

"When I was coming in (to the plate)," he said, "the catcher was maybe two steps to the left of the plate and it looked like that's where the throw was going to take him, so if I made a good slide to the inside of the plate, I probably would have been safe. But as soon as I started to brake down and slide, he cut me off to the plate. The throw must have taken him right where I was going. I didn't even see the throw."

"That was a crazy ending," said Wallace. "I thought that ball was going in the stands. The next thing you know, it's right there at home plate. I don't know how to explain that one."

The ValleyCats trailed 5-2 in the ninth after the Muckdogs had tacked on to a 3-2 with single runs in both the seventh and eighth innings.

Tri-City pinch-hitter Telvin Nash worked a walk and Wilton Infante, pinch-running for Nash, raced to third on Wallace's double off the right field wall.

After a popout, Infante scored on Mike Kvasnicka's groundout to third base, then Kike Hernandez reached on error at shortstop. Healey ran for him and nearly scored the tying run on Orloff's hit.

The ValleyCats took a 2-0 lead in the first inning as Orloff led off the game with a wind-aided, bloop double up the rightfield line.

After he moved to third on an out and scored on Tyler Burnett's grounder, the Cats got another run when Muckdogs starter Zach Russell walked three straight batters, then hit Dan Adamson with a pitch.

The ValleyCats left the bases loaded, however, and didn't score again until the ninth.

They could have in the seventh when Adamson singled but was erased when Kvasnicka bunted into a double play. That play loomed large when Hernandez then doubled into the right field corner but he was stranded.

"We jumped on them early in the first innings and weren't able to muster much offense after that," Pankovits said. "They're a good-hitting ballclub; you knew they were going to chip away and score some runs. We just waited a little too long. We only got five hits and hopefully we'll swing the bats a little bit better (tonight)."

After his rough first inning, Russell retired 16 of the next 17 batters before leaving after six innings.

ValleyCats starter James Robinson allowed three (earned) runs on seven hits in five innings and took the loss.

James Rodriguez had three hits for Batavia, two of which drove in runs.

His single, two walks and a hit batsman enabled the Muckdogs to score twice and take a 3-2 lead in the fifth.

Edmondson singled, stole second and scored what proved to be the winning run on Victor Sanchez's two-out single in the bottom of the eighth, which made the count 5-2.

Jake Buchanan pitches for the ValleyCats tonight.

"We're going to come out and battle; I think we'll come out swinging," Wallace said. "Playoffs are tough, you just have to battle and fight through it."